Glossary
DOMAINS

gTLD

Generic Top-Level Domain — a TLD not tied to a specific country. Includes .com, .org, .net, plus the ~1,200 newTLDs from ICANN's 2013 expansion.

gTLD (Generic Top-Level Domain) is a TLD not tied to a specific country. The original set of 8 (com, net, org, edu, gov, mil, int, arpa) has expanded to ~1,200 following ICANN’s newTLD program starting 2013.

Categories

  • Legacy gTLDs — .com, .net, .org — huge user recognition, .com still dominates
  • Sponsored gTLDs — .gov, .edu, .mil — restricted to specific communities
  • NewTLDs (2013+) — .app, .dev, .xyz, .io, .co, .tech, .blog, plus ~1,200 more
  • Brand TLDs — .google, .amazon, .apple — closed, used only by the registrant brand

Cost Range

  • .com — ~$10/year
  • Common newTLDs — $10-50/year
  • Premium tier newTLDs — $100-1000/year
  • Brand TLDs — six-figure yearly ICANN fees

SEO Considerations

Google publicly says all gTLDs rank equally. Practically:

  • .com gets the highest CTR — user default assumption
  • .io gets high CTR in the tech niche but SEO parity elsewhere
  • .biz and .info are John Mueller-quoted as spam-associated and lose CTR

Registry Consolidation

Most newTLDs are operated by a handful of registries (Donuts, Identity Digital, Radix). This means pricing volatility if a registry is acquired or changes strategy.

Check the TLD glossary entry, the ccTLD glossary entry, and the WHOIS entry.

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